Nike Company vs. Yale University School of Art

We have all probably come upon sites that either catch our eye or turn our attention away while searching the web. Through these experiences, we have categorized what we consider “good” and “bad” websites. One good website that I have found is that of the Nike Company . When you first enter the site, it gives you the option of choosing your region (such as the United States and “Español”, to name a few). To me, this proves the credibility of the site. Because the Internet is accessible to so many, people are able to put up websites that are similar to the real website, but not the same. For example, because Nike is a very large name around the world, a site may be out there that pretends to be the Nike Company or selling Nike products (I could not find any sites that pretend to be Nike on Google because the main searches are pretty legit. Nike is a big name, but if I had searched further, I am sure I would find a fake Nike website). But the Nike website is very distinctive and proves its credibility. Also, the site is pleasing to look at. It has many options to look at, but is categorized in an easy-to-understand manner. The site also has a sports theme (obviously) and is strategically placed in the background. This allows those that are strangers to the Nike name know what the company is all about. When entering the Nike site, it is apparent that it is professional and attracts many viewers. This is what I would call a “good” website.

On the other hand, there is the website for Yale University School of Art. Upon entering this website, there are random images of spinning oranges and illegible cursive writing. I was instantly confused on the function of this website; it looks as if a child designed it. Further investigation reveals that this site is a product of the art students, who contribute to its design. Though this may be a good idea, it does not attract viewers that are new to the site. In fact, I did not even think that I was visiting a real school website. Also, this site has boring font and barely uses capital letters. For a college website, I do not think this is very professional. I would consider this to be a “bad” website because of the confusion it creates from the get-go. One page even changes patterns, which makes me think that I switched pages, when I really didn’t. It’s really bad.